48 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



much narrower, and very decidedly acute ; the pedicels are longer, and 

 the racemes which form the panicle more erect. The enlarged petals 

 ai*e I to { inch long, and nearly as broad, more or less cordate at the 

 base, abruptly acuminated into a short deltoid point ; the basal part cut 

 into 5 or 8 unequal teeth, the longest of which is not above ^ the breadth 

 of the petal ; the two lower enlarged petals purplish red, more rarely olive 

 tinged with red, frequently with scarcely any tubercle, and the upper 

 one with a very prominent tubercle about half the length of the petal. 

 Nut generally abortive, wliich favours the idea of its hybrid origin ; 

 when perfect -^^ inch long, very broadly ovate-triquetrous, light bro^vn, 

 smooth, shining. Professor Babington says he has found the nuts 

 abundant and elliptic, while I have never been able to find more than 

 3 or 4 on a plant, and all I have seen were much broadest towards the 

 base, 60 that the faces are ovate-acuminate, not elliptic. Plant light 

 green, often tinged ^vith dull purplish red, glabrous. 



This plant is so nearly half-way between E. obtusifolious and 

 R. crisjius that I am much inclined to regard it as a hybrid between 

 the two, as suggested by Koch himself. Indeed, the chief point to be 

 urged against this view is its great abundance. 



Meadow Dock. 

 German, Wiesen Am.pfer. 



SPECIES VIII.-R UMEX CONSPERSUS. Hartm. 

 Plate MCCXVII. 

 R. confertus, ''Willd. Enuni. Hort. Berol. p. 397" {Fries). 



Leaves thin, the radical ones broadly oblong, not panduriform, cor- 

 date or abrupt at the base, obtuse, repand and considerably undulated 

 at the margins; " petioles flat on the upper side, laterally compressed 

 above" (Fries); lower stem leaves similar, but narrower, subobtuse, 

 and on shorter stalks; leaves at the base of the whorls elliptical, 

 shortly stalked. Branches of panicle ascending, leafless except at the 

 very base. Pedicels about twice as long as the fruit petals, articulated 

 a little below the middle, spreading nearly all round the stem. Flowers 

 perfect. Enlarged petals in fruit roundish-deltoid, subcordate at the 

 base, obtuse, cut into numerous very short irregular deltoid teeth 

 from the base nearly to the apex, strongly reticulated ; one of the two 

 lower ones considerably smaller than the upper one, and both with 

 very slender linear-lanceolate tubercles, which is sometimes reduced 

 to a thickened midrib ; the upper petal with a large short ovoid 

 tubercle ; tubercles not muricated. 



Found by Professor Walker Arnott in Kinrosshire, particularly in 

 the parish of Orwell. 



